Congress puts up impressive show across Andhra Pradesh

By Mohammed Shafeeq Hyderabad, May 17 (IANS) The Congress party did not just retain power in Andhra Pradesh with a comfortable majority, but it put up an impressive show in all regions of the state in Elections 2009.

An analysis of the party’s performance in both assembly and Lok Sabha elections shows that it has done extremely well in all four regions - Telangana, north coastal Andhra, south coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

The Congress party, which bagged 157 seats in the 294-member assembly and 33 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats without any alliances, performed really well even in the Telangana region, where it faced a strong united opposition comprising the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the two Left parties.

The issue of separate statehood to Telangana region did not seem to have cut ice with the people as Congress got a clear majority despite criticism from the opposition for not taking a clear stand on the issue.

Reversing its traditional stand against bifurcation of the state, TDP had last year backed the demand for separate Telangana, paving the way for an alliance with TRS. The TDP-led four party grand alliance was confident of winning a big chunk of seats in this key region.

However, lack of anti-incumbency and Telangana as a poll issue helped Congress to win 50 out of 119 seats. This is despite the defeat of several of its stalwarts including state unit president D. Srinivas, speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy and seven ministers in the region.

TRS, which emerged as a key force in 2004 elections by winning 26 seats, ended with only 10 though it contested 45 seats. TDP, which was nearly wiped out from the region in last elections, improved its tally to 39.

The Congress also won 12 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the region while TDP and TRS got two seats each. One seat went to Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).

The Congress also did well in north coastal Andhra, which went to the polls along with Telangana in the first phase April 16. Out of 34 seats in the region, the Congress got 24. TDP could get six and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) of superstar Chiranjeevi four. The Congress won all four Lok Sabha seats in the region.

In the politically significant south coastal Andhra, Congress won 51 out of 89 seats, dashing TDP’s hopes of PRP cutting into the vote bank of the ruling party. TDP bagged 29 seats and PRP nine. Congress also won 10 Lok Sabha seats in the region, leaving the remaining two for TDP.

In Rayalaseema, the region both Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu come from, Congress won 32 out of 52 seats. TDP got 17 and PRP three including Tirupati which elected Chiranjeevi. Congress also got seven out of nine Lok Sabha seats in the region. TDP got two seats.